Scolopendra morsitans

Lewis, JGE, 2002, their adjacent islets (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha), Journal of Natural History 36, pp. 79-106 : 81-82

Scolopendra morsitans L.

Scolopendra morsitans Linnaeus, 1758: 638 .

Previous records

Mauritius. Petite RivieÁre and Cap Malheureux (VerhoeOE, 1939). Staub (1988) listed S. morsitans from the Edinburgh University 1982 Round Island Expedition, but this identi®cation is dubious as the three specimens collected by B. Alexander on the Edinburgh 1978 Expedition, now in the Natural History Museum, are. abnormis . The Museum has a specimen of S. morsitans collected by Pike and registered in 1870, the accession number of which (70.46) suggests that it was collected on Round Island. Rodrigues. As Scolopendra mossambica Peters, 1862 , Butler, 1876) and Eurylithobius slateri Butler, 1879 (Butler, 1879) , IÃle aux Sables and IÃle Cocos (Lewis and Daszak, 1996).

Materials studied

Mauritius. One specimen (spm), 65 mm, E070 Black River Aviaries, Wayne Page,

March 1994. One spm, 53 mm, under stone, dry wooded gully S side of Tamarin River, Tamarin, P. Daszak, 14 October 1995. One spm, 64 mm, in stomach of mongoose Herpestes auropunctatu s, Pigeon Wood, Carl Jones, March 1977. Rodrigues. Six spms, 14±26 mm under stones, heavily grazed grass, hill just west of Port Mathurin, S. J. Lewis, 9 November 1995. Four spms, 41±51.5 mm, the same. One spm, 16 mm, the same, P. Daszak. One spm, 13.5 mm, under grass on sand, IÃle Cocos, 11 November 1995, P. Daszak. One spm, 87 mm, in cut on coconut, the same, S. J. Lewis. Three spms, 48.5± 78 mm, the same, P. Daszak, S. J. Lewis. Nine spms, 43±87 mm, in old palm logs, IÃle aux Sables, P. Cottingham, P. Daszak,. Wenman, 11 November 1995.

Remarks Jangi (1959) referred the smaller of what he had hitherto (Jangi, 1955) referred as two sympatric forms of S. morsitans from India to S. amazonica BuÈcherl, 1946 .

He regarded the presence (in S. morsitans ) or absence ( S. amazonica ) of a tarsal spine on the 20th pair of legs as the most reliable and convenient taxonomic character separating the species. Lewis (1969) reported that African specimens lacked this spine, but in other